“You can come round to the office today and get your wages,” he went on.
And then he turned to go.
So I was the one to be dismissed! Now I understood what Grindhusen had
meant with his hints about me. Fru Falkenberg, no doubt, had come to
hate the sight of me by now, reminding her, as it must, of her home,
and so she had got him to turn me off. But hadn't I been the very one
to show delicacy of feeling towards her at the station, turning away
instead of recognizing her? Had I ever so much as lifted my cap to her
when I passed her in the street? Surely I had been considerate enough to
deserve consideration in return?
And now--here was this young engineer turning me off at a moment's
notice, and that with unnecessary vehemence. I saw it all in my mind: he
had been worrying himself for days over this dismissal, shirking it all
the time, until at last he managed to screw his courage up by drinking
hard all night. Was I doing him an injustice? It might be so; and I
tried to combat the thought myself. Once more I called to mind that he
was young and I was old, and my heart no doubt, full of envy on that
account. So I gave him no sarcastic answer now, but simply said:
“Ay, well, then, I can unpack the things I was taking along.”
But the engineer was anxious to make the most of his chance now he was
fairly started; he dragged in the old story about the time he'd wanted
me to go and fetch a trunk.
“When I give an order, I don't expect the man to turn round and say no,
he won't. I'm not used to that sort of thing. And as there's no knowing
it may not occur again, you'd better go.”
“Well and good,” said I.
I saw a figure in a white dress at a window in the hotel, and fancied it
must be Fru Falkenberg watching us, so I said no more.
But then the engineer seemed suddenly to remember that he couldn't get
rid of me once and for all on the spot; he would have to see me again
to settle up. So he changed his tone and said: “Well, anyhow, come up
sometime to-day and get your money. Have you thought over how much it
ought to be?”
“No. That'll be for engineer himself to decide.”
“Well, well,” he said in a kindlier voice, “after all, you've been a
good man to have, I will say that for you. But, for various reasons--and
it's not only for myself: you know what women--that is, I mean the
ladies--”
Oh, but he was young indeed. He stopped at nothing.
“Well--good morning!” He nodded abruptly, and turned away.
* * * * *
But the day proved all too short for me; I went up into the woods, and
stayed roaming about there all by myself so long that I didn't get to
the office to draw my money. Well, there was no hurry; I had plenty of
time.
What was I to do now?
I had not cared much for the little town before, but now it began
to interest me; I would gladly have stayed on a while. There were
complications arising between two people whom I had been following
attentively for some weeks past; something fresh might happen any
moment now, there was no saying. I thought of going as apprentice to a
blacksmith, just for the sake of staying in the place, but then, if I
did, I should be tied to the smithy all day and hampered in my movements
altogether; apart from which, the apprenticeship would take too many
years of my life. And years were the thing I least of all could spare.
So I let the days pass, one after another; the weather changed round
again to dry, sunny days. I stayed on at the lodging-house, mended my
clothes, and got some new ones made at a shop. One of the maids in the
house came up one evening and offered to do some mending for me, but I
was more in the mood for fooling, and showed her how well I managed the
work myself.
“Look at that patch, there, now--and that!” After a while a man came up
the stairs and tried the door. “Open, you within!” he said.
“It's Henrik, one of the lumbermen,” said the girl.
“Is he your sweetheart?” I asked.
“No, indeed, I should think not,” she answered. “I'd rather go without
than have a fellow like him.”
“Open the door, d'you hear!” cried the man outside. But the girl was not
frightened in the least. “Let him stay outside,” she said. And we let
him stay outside. But that door of mine bent inwards in a great curve
every now and then, when he pushed his hardest.
At last, when we'd finished making fun about my needlework and her
sweethearts, I had to go out and see the passage was clear before she
would venture downstairs. But there was no man there.
It was late now; I went down to the parlour for a bit, and there was
Grindhusen drinking with some of the gang. “There he is!” said one of
them, as I came in. It was Henrik who spoke; he was trying to get his
mates against me. Grindhusen, too, sided with the rest of them, and
tried all he could to annoy me.
Poor Grindhusen! He was stale-drunk all the time now, and couldn't get
clear of it. He had had another meeting with Engineer Lassen; they had
walked up the river as before and sat talking for an hour, and when
Grindhusen came back he showed a new two-Kroner piece he'd got. Then
he went on the drink again, and gabbled about being in the engineer's
confidence. This evening, too, he was all high-and-mightiness, not to be
outdone by anybody.
“Come in and sit down,” he said to me.
But one or two of the other men demurred; they would have nothing to do
with me. And at this Grindhusen changed front; for sheer devilment he
fell to again about the engineer and his cousin, knowing it would annoy
me.
“Well, has he turned you off?” he asked, with a side glance at the
others, as if to bid them watch what was coming.
“Yes,” said I.
“Aha! I knew all about it days ago, but I never said a word. I don't
mind saying I knew about it before any other single soul in the world of
us here, but did I ever breathe a word of it? Inspector he says to me:
'I want to ask you something, Grindhusen,' says he, 'and that is, if
you'll come down and work in the town instead of the man I've got there
now. I want to get rid of him,' says he. 'Why, as to that,' says I,
'it's just as Inspector's pleased to command.' That was my very words,
and neither more nor less. But did I ever breathe a syllable?”
“Has he turned you off?” asked one of the other men then.
“Yes,” I answered.
“But as for that cousin of his,” Grindhusen went on, “he asked me about
her, too. Ay, Inspector, he asks my advice about all sorts of things.
And now, this last time we were up the river together, he slapped his
knee when he talked of her. So there. And you can guess for yourselves
till tomorrow morning if you like. Everything of the best to eat and
drink and every way, and costing a heap of money each week; but she
stays on and on. Fie and for shame, say I, and I mean it too.”
But now it seemed as if the scale had turned in my favour at the news
of my dismissal; some of the men perhaps felt sorry for me, others were
glad to learn that I was going. One of them offered me a drink from his
own bottle, and called to the maid for “another glass--a clean one, you
understand!” Even Henrik no longer bore me any grudge, but drank with
me and was friendly enough. And we sat there gossiping over our glasses
quite a while.
“But you'd better go up and see about that money of yours,” said
Grindhusen. “For from what I've heard, I don't fancy you'll get the
Inspector to come down here with it after you. He said as much. 'There's
money owing to him,' that was what he said, 'but if he thinks I'm going
to run after him with it, you can tell him it's here,' he said.”